Study looks at water situation in Lincoln County

While he appreciates the work performed by researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey, Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Doth told agency officials Tuesday, the county needs some conclusions right now to help in future planning and development decisions.

"I wish we had more analysis of the data," he said. "This is not fast enough for me. You're still working on 2010 and we're going on 2013, and we have little water. I'd also like to know more about water quality. We're way behind the eight ball. We're not getting information quickly enough."

The commissioner's comments followed a presentation by USGS New Mexico Water Science Supervisor Doug McAda and hydrologists Michael Darr and Lauren Sherson. The county and agency entered into a continuing relationship that spanned many years, focusing on how the Upper Rio Hondo watershed covering the Rio Bonito and Rio Ruidoso, functions and more recently, surface water quality, MaAda said.

"In the early part of our relationship with the county, we worked on gathering available information in the basin plus doing water level measurements on wells previously measured in the 1960s," MaAda said. Since then, hydrologists have been collecting information on the hydrology of surface and groundwater. The original plan of study was modified from year to year based on what the data collected and the county indicated was needed, he said.

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"Now there is a report Mike is completing that will give a better picture of what his first report started looking at," MaAda said. "He will be wrapping that up and working with the new project chief, Lauren Sherson."

His final report will characterize the precipitation, the source of the water, the surface water and the groundwater, and come up with an integrated water budget and conceptual model to show where the underground storage areas called aquifers are and to show the hydrological system in more detail, Darr said.

Patterns

Data shows that rainfall distribution over the last 150 years tends to come in 50-year cycles, with some high and low annual variability within each. His maps also show what areas receive the most rainfall, he said.

The study area was divided into 16 different sub watersheds to characterize the rainfall coming in and stream flow going out of each, the water used by plants and the water soaked into the ground for recharge, he said. What he found leaving the study area year after year was 38,000 acre feet annually. One acre foot translates to 325,851 gallons of water. "The base flow is about 10,000 acre feet per year and outflow to the Rio Hondo is about 21,000 acre feet per year. Those numbers will be valuable for planning purposes," he said.

As for groundwater, monitors show a jump in water levels in July 2008 after the effects of Hurricane Dolly caused massive flooding, especially on the Rio Ruidoso. "We had 45 monitoring wells in place and we could see it happening before our eyes," Darr said. "It was in excess of 20 feet in some places and spread out in others, a big water level response to help offset some decline from heavier pumping in the drought.

"It was surprising and informative to find these kinds of water level responses in the aquifers that had been hinted at in other studies."

The levels also dropped down during the drought periods, he said. "All of that is in the report," he said, noting that another smaller jump occurred in the spring snow melt-off of 2010.

"Identifying the short- and long-term fluctuations was a big outcome of the study and how your aquifer functions," Darr said.

Water budget

As for a water budget, the study showed there are three distinct areas. The mountains are responsible for recharge and receive the only "live" water given to the system, from 38,000 acre feet to 42,000 acre feet per year on the average. Highs and lows can vary annually. The central basin receives the water and recycles it, he said. "It's where most of the water is used," he said. The Hondo slope is the most downgraded and farthest away. Each block has different terrain, geology and rock types. But their water budgets affect each other, he said.

"Just like we are seeing changes in the mountain block from the burn in the Bonito, we're going to see changes in the amount of recharge and water used in the other parts," he said.

The best he can nail down now for outflows are 37,000 acre feet to 40,000 acre feet per year, he said. "It's a pretty even system," Darr said. "Stream flow is 21,000 acre feet, consumptive use and depletion's, pumping and agriculture is 13,000 acre feet and some deep flow goes into the Roswell Basin."

He stressed that the figures are a long-term, average regional basin water budget. Each sub-basin would break out its own budget. The actions of one would affect the other and it would vary from year to year, Darr said. "You've got a tiger by the tail to pin it down year to year," he said.

His report is in the final peer review stage before it can be released to the county, he said.

Expertise

Sherson, who will be taking over the county study, said she recently completed her master's thesis at the University of New Mexico on the effects on water quality of fire, something that fits wells for this region. She described her plans for the current fiscal year to continue to collect precipitation, stream flow and water level data, and to install four more continuous data loggers in wells to obtain better spatial representation of the aquifer. She also wants to collect more water quality data in response to the Little Bear Fire that occurred in June and severely damaged the Bonito watershed. Preliminary measurements after the fire show a higher level of trace metals, she said. She plans three more measuring events, she said.

Commission Chairman Jackie Powell cautioned putting much stock in average levels of outflows.

"We've seen very little water during the rainy season," she said. "And there's a whole lot of silt, which is deceiving and the water level seems higher. Last year we had decent snow at 160 inches and zero runoff. It's a totally different scenario and that needs to be in the report."

McAda said statewide, researchers are seeing little runoff despite good snowmelt. The warmer temperatures do not give a chance for the water to reach the streams, he said.

As for interpretations, McAda said the agency's job is to collect scientific information, not to make management decisions on how to use the water.

Commissioners also asked that gauges be kept in working order and checked online to ensure they are functioning properly.

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